


New York Summer

by lamentingpat



Category: Daredevil (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Love Confessions, M/M, No Spoilers, Past Matt Murdock/Elektra Natchios, Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:33:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26199370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lamentingpat/pseuds/lamentingpat
Summary: New York summers are always unbearable for Matt, but it gets even worse once the AC in the office goes out. After some pushing by Karen and some complaining from Matt, he finds someone who's willing to fix it, but it leads him down a new path. Who would have thought that Matt Murdock would confess his feeling on top of a sweltering roof?I did this for the lovely gift Daredevil and Defenders 2020 exchange! This is for reddbl on tumblr, and you should check out their amazing art!
Relationships: Frank Castle/Matt Murdock
Comments: 10
Kudos: 65
Collections: Daredevil and Defenders Exchange 2020





	New York Summer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Red_Dbl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Dbl/gifts).



> I had a lot of fun writing this, I hope you enjoy it!

New York summers were the worst. Sure, Matt had grown up with it, but he was more acclimated to fair or cold weather. Foggy wasn’t good with hot weather either, making the situation they were both in insufferable. 

Their office, which usually suited their needs just fine, no longer had air conditioning. It had gone out only weeks prior, and neither man had the money or skill to repair it. Foggy had made a few calls, yet still couldn’t find someone he knew who could do it for a lower price. 

It took Matt two weeks to find an acquaintance who could do it for a reduced price, the problem was that it was going to take a minimum of two weeks, and at worst a whole month to fix. For their clients’ sake, they had been holding meetings at a cheap local coffee shop (emphasis on cheap), but they couldn’t keep doing that. It was hard to have confidential meetings with clients in a public space, and even though the coffee was cheap, it still wasn’t easy on the wallet to be there every day for hours on end. Even Foggy, whose charm worked on most, was starting to wear thin on the owner of said shop. 

It was Karen who broached the idea of what to do about it. 

“All I’m saying is that we know someone who can do it! I’m sure Frank would say yes if you asked him!” From their facial expressions alone she could tell her idea was vetoed, at least for now. Knowing Matt, he probably would complain about it around Frank sometime soon when out doing god-knows-what at the late hours of the night. 

“Karen, we are not inviting a mass murderer who is currently wanted by _multiple_ police departments into our practice **again** ,” Foggy seemed the most upset about having Frank in the building, but then again, he had less contact with him that either she or Matt did. 

He wouldn’t have known as well that behind all the gruff and tough talk, Frank actually was a kind person, but he tended to hide it due to all the things he’d been through. The only sure way to see that would be if you ever saw him interacting with kids. They were a soft spot for him, and he showed a side few got to see when he was around them. Karen had only seen it because they had run across a lost child one time when she had dragged him to the mall due to the fact that his clothes consisted of three pairs of pants, two of the same shirt, a few bulkier jackets, an ungodly amount of socks, and one pair of worn combat boots. She didn’t even want to know when he last did laundry. 

They had come across the kid while in one of the large chain retailers, they carried clothes that would a) fit properly on Frank b) had a wide variety of basic stuff he wouldn’t protest to wearing. The trip had been going fine until Karen had pushed back some shirts to see a sniffling little girl on the ground. After a few minutes of trying to calm the girl, she was able to find out some basic information about her and even convince her to come with them to the service desk to find her dad.

While they waited at the desk for her dad to arrive, Frank had spent most of the time crouched down next to her, showing her coin tricks. Later Karen found out he had picked them up overseas, as they were something to preoccupy the free time he had, and it was a trick he could show to his kids or those there as a way to make them smile. She held back the comment about how it was an old man trick, mainly because she thought it was too sweet to ruin the moment. But in the end, their trip had been successful and the young girl had been reunited with her dad so it was a win-win situation. 

“Foggy, unless you can do it sooner I think he would be the best option. I don’t want to swelter in the office any more than you do,” Karen tried her best to rationalize with Foggy, she didn’t want to roast in the office anymore or even drink more subpar coffee while they worked somewhere else. Even though their office wasn’t amazing, it at least worked well for them before the damn air conditioning kicked the bucket. 

Right before he was about to respond, the client they had been waiting on finally arrived. “This discussion is over yet,” Karen said before they launched into their client’s case over lukewarm coffee. 

✯ 

Unfortunately for Karen, Foggy was the master of a filibuster, and it wasn’t talked about for the rest of the day even after their client was long gone. Lucky for her, Matthew Michael Murdock was one of the most dramatic people she had ever met _and_ he was going on patrol with Frank tonight so the chances of him complaining were high. And she was right for thinking that. 

“How the hell are you not hot? It’s like we’re trapped in a greenhouse,” The question only got a tired-looking glance from Frank as he was reloading his gun, much to Matt’s chagrin. He was, at this point, way too overheated to really get into a fight about it tonight. Besides, Frank knew that when they worked together he couldn’t operate the same, and Matt was sure he smelled salt in those rounds, but it was muddled by the awful smell of the roasting trash from a nearby dumpster. 

“Well for one I’m not parading around in a red leather suit, and I’ve also been in places warmer than this,” Frank finally answered as he finished loading the gun in his hands. Matt, in his complaining, had admittedly forgotten that Frank had served overseas in Iraq and Afganistan, both places got way hotter than back here in New York. It was a bit embarrassing on his part, but he wouldn’t admit that, especially not to Frank. Instead, he would likely just complain more.  
  
“At least it’s cooler out here than it is in the office. We’ve been holding meetings with our clients at a coffee shop so we don’t sweat them out since our AC went out,” That seemed to pique Frank’s interest, as he set down the gun he was fiddling with. Karen had definitely won this one thanks to Matt. “Karen’s been bugging us to find someone to do it, but we don’t have the money for it right now.”  
  
“I’ll fix it if you can cover for me for a night,” Frank offered, which was a bit of an odd request. Frank really only ever took a night off one day a year, and it wasn’t even close to that day. Matt knew that, Frank had lost his family in the spring, not the dog days of summer. 

  
“You got a date or something?” Matt lightly joked, trying to get a little more info out of him so he could actually find out what he was covering for. Knowing Frank, it likely wasn’t a date. He hadn’t really expressed any interest in others, and his relationship with Karen was more of close friends than romantic. That was also kinda cemented by the fact that she currently had a girlfriend, so, definitely not. Frank really didn’t do much else… 

“No,” Matt could feel the disapproval from Frank even without seeing his expression. “Old Marines buddy of mine is getting married, and I promised Curtis that I’d go. Also said I’d have to take a plus one but that’s not going to happen,” Frank’s friend pool was pretty small, so he didn’t exactly have many people to choose from as a plus one. Matt wondered if he had even asked anyone, or had just decided to fly solo. It would make sense if he did decide that, as Frank tended to self isolate more than he should, and really the only people who stayed in his life were the ones who wormed their way past the barriers he put up. 

“Did you ask Karen? I’m sure she would say yes, she went with Foggy to one of his cousin’s weddings,” As many families tended to be, Foggy’s were also interested in their son’s romantic life. Matt loved his family, but he knew sometimes their concern about their son was a little overbearing at times, especially since they considered him one of their sons too. He hadn’t even tried to explain to them his past relationship with Elektra, it was just easier to tell them that she’s like his sister and that they were just friends. It also really helped that she was currently dating Karen. 

“You think I haven’t? She’s got a date that night, and I’m not going to pull her away from that,” He felt a small pang of guilt ring through him, he should have known Frank would ask Karen, they were close. Matt wouldn’t want to pull Karen away either, he’d faced Elektra’s petty wrath more than once for borrowing her girlfriend away for work purposes at inopportune times. Hell, he’d even understand if Elektra was the only person Frank feared, though it sometimes seemed that he didn’t fear anyone. “Not that going alone is that bad, but Curt’s a better nag than my Italian mother ever was, which is saying a lot if you knew her.” 

Matthew Murdock was an impulsive person. This was a fact that was widely known, even though sometimes he was more precise and cautious in his decisions. But this was definitely not one of those times. “I could go with you.” 

Alarm bells went off in his head, and Matt knew he had fucked up. You see, for the past few months, Matt had been playing this fun brain game called “I _like_ like Frank Castle but I will never admit it for fear of rejection of those around me or the man himself”, and he had just said something that he thought would give it away. More likely he was just feeling a rush of anxiety, as what he said could be interpreted multiple ways. What didn’t help in the slightest was hearing Frank’s pulse speed up along with his own. His brain was going too fast in the moment to figure out why though, given that he was more focused on his own pounding heartbeat. 

“You really want to go to a wedding? Doesn’t really seem your speed, Red,” Which was a fair assessment. Matt tended to shy away from commitment, which definitely had a deep-seated reason in his past and emotional trauma but he wasn’t going to unpack all that, definitely not now. What he did need to do was figure out what to say next to the man next to him, both of their hearts thudding away. 

“It usually isn’t, but I don’t mind going with you,” Careful what you say next, Matthew. “I like spending time with you,” Ah. Now he would just go home and curl up on the ground. That was embarrassing, and he had just said it to _Frank fucking Castle_. He waited for a response, something that would be just as soul-crushing if not more, but there wasn’t one. Frank was quiet. 

He finally spoke, setting the knife he’d been fiddling with beside him. “Red, I doubt you really mean that, half the time we’re at each other’s throats. Besides, I doubt that Nelson would be fond of that, I know he doesn’t trust me,” His tone was… sad? Something a little different, and was a little hard to place what it really was. Frank was pretty good at masking most of his emotions, even to Matt. One thing that he did notice was the distinct smell of a light sweat, and he sensed a tremor in Frank’s hands as he rubbed the back of his shortly trimmed hair. “Besides, who would cover both our areas for the night?” 

“Frank, I’m not going to lie to you about shit like that. And sure, we disagree on things but you forget what I do for a day job. It’s arguing but in a more polite form, and I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t like it,” Matt sighed and pulled off his cowl. It was quiet tonight (hopefully him thinking that wouldn’t jinx it), so he had time to attempt to convey how he really felt to Frank. Now he just had to say it. 

“I… like spending time with you, even if sometimes you prod to try and get a reaction or spark a debate about our ethics. Do you remember what you said to me when we really didn’t know each other?” It could have been a bunch of things, but Matt had one that always stood out to him. He cleared his throat to attempt his best Frank impression. “You’re one bad day away from being me,” Matt couldn’t help but snort afterward. 

He rightfully earned a light punch to his shoulder from Frank. “Even past you knew we weren’t so different,” Matt joked lightly, pushing him back on the shoulder. “But… it’s more than just liking spending time with you. I care about you and I… I’m interested in you, uh, romantically?” At the very least Matt knew that he shouldn’t jump right in the l-word talk, he was uncomfortable thinking about that as of now and he was sure Frank would too, but he wanted to express how he felt the best he could. Admittedly it was hard for him to be outright about it, but with a man like Frank, it wouldn’t do him any good to dance around. Better to deal with it now and see what happens rather than keep dancing around Frank. 

Frank seemed stunned, and Matt could hear his heartbeat speed up. After what felt like forever but was likely only a few seconds, he cleared his throat and began to speak. “You… are interested in _me_?” Shock. That’s what was in his voice. Maybe it was because he didn’t know that Matt was into men, but even more likely he was surprised that someone was interested in him. He hadn’t been with anyone since Maria, and even then, his relationships were few and far between compared to the more devout Catholic. 

“Yeah,” Matt responded, his voice a bit softer than it had been before. Frank’s heartbeat was fast but steady, like a constant pounding drum. While he sat there, Matt found solace in its rhythm, especially as his emotions swelled as his thoughts raced, trying to predict what Frank would say in response.  
  
“Matt, I-” Frank let out a loud sigh, placing his head in his hands. “How do I say this?” He grumbled to himself. He was a man of instinct, words were never really his strong suit, especially not when it came to things like this. Frank felt his emotions strongly, but he never knew the correct outlet for them, which was evident based on what he did day to day now, but now that he was actually trying? He wondered how others did it, he might even ask Karen. It took him a few minutes but he finally found the words.

“I feel the same way… I’m not really good at this thing. Maria was my only real relationship that lasted long term,” He admitted it to Matt, who was actually pretty surprised. Once you really got down to it, Frank was a sweet guy who struggled with his emotions and things he went through, and if you managed to get there, he would have been a very good partner. But in the end, it did make sense why he never found someone else given the circumstances of his family’s death and his loyalty to them. 

  
“I’ll go as your date to the wedding then. Whatever happens after that is up to you,” Matt gave him the reigns of their relationship in the future, given how Frank clearly carried more baggage in that department, and Matt wanted to make him as comfortable as possible. “You won’t have to let down Curtis.”  
  
“I guess I still have to fix that AC then,” Frank lightly joked with a slight smile, even though his heart was still pounding away. Matt was sure his face was a shade of red, but there wasn’t really a way for him to tell. He kinda wished he could, so he could see Frank’s face, but he’d just have to ask Karen or Foggy the next time this happened around them if he ever got the chance.  
  
“I think Karen would drag you to the office herself if you didn’t,” In a daring move, Matt reached over and sneakily slipped his hand into Frank’s empty one, giving him a sneaky smirk for his success. It was even better since Frank didn’t attempt to pull his hand away from Matt’s. It was nice. Neither man had done something of that nature in a while, and even with the heat and the persistent noise of the city, it seemed to be calm as they just stayed there in each other’s company. It seemed that they truly had gotten lucky for such a quiet night.


End file.
